Process of making briquets or other molded articles.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

omn'ron ELLIS, OF MONTOLAIB, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOE TQ anus-roam ODI- PAINT, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OFMAKING BBIQUETS OR OTHER MOLDED ARTICLES.

In Drawing.

T 0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARLETON ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Montclair, in the county'of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Briquets or other Molded Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of making briquets and other solid or plastic bodies by means of sulfite waste liquor as a bindin material and to the product of such met-ho all as more fully hereinafter set forth.

Sulfite waste liquor in a concentrated or solid form has been proposed. as a binding material for briquets and the like, but being soluble in water briquets made from it will not stand the action of wet weather as when exposed to rain in open cars during transportation. Pitch and tar have been suggested as waterproofing agents for the sulfite liquor but owing to the smoke and soot produced by these there is little likelihood of general acceptance of binders of this character.

Many attempts have been made to render sulfite liquor waterproof but so far as I know. no satisfactory method to this end for making briquets and plastics has been devised.

I have found that the concentrated li uor especially the more acid types of the su fite waste liquor are capable of being preci itated by lime toform a perfectly insolu le body, so far as this art is concerned, and which enable briquets to be prepared which resist the disintegrating efi'ects of water to the degree desired. It is of course somewhat remarkable that sulfite waste liquor consisting so largely of lime compounds should be precipitated by quicklime or hvdrated lime, but such is the case, especia y with the slightly acid varieties of the liquor.

, The li uors obtained from raw materials containing a rather high percentage of mag- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed Iarch 28, 1918. Serial No. 757,801.

Patented Nov. 13, 1917.

liquor preferably of an acid character, such as may be made by concentrating in an acid condition or partially neutralized state, or by acidifying the neutral concentrate. I do not mean to exclude the neutral or alkariva-tives of sul to waste liquor or spruce or other cellulosic liquors of a. substantially equivalent character from the viewpoint of the present invention. The li uor 1S mixed with the materials to be boun together as coal dust or fines, culm, sawdust, mineral fillers, talc, magnesite, crushed rock, sand, fiber, asbestos, and the like, and then the lime in a finely divided condition is admixed therewith. Reaction takes place almost immediately with some liquors and the insoluble compound is formed in and around the filling material. Sometimes the reaction is not immediate especially when the sulfite liquor is diluted with 20 to of water or when the sulfite liquor solids are because of the nature of the concentration in aless unstable condition. Thus in various ways the setting time may be controlled so that opportunit is afforded to work the lastic into suitab e shape after mixing. Hy ted lime works usually a little slower than uicklime. About 50% of lime reckoned on t e weight of sulfite liquor of 30 degrees Baum 1s asatisfactory amount of precipi-- thoroughly incorporated,- briqueting followlit? as soon as possible. Or t e lime may be a ded in the orm of the hydrate dry or as a paste or as milk or cream of lime. To secure the best results briquetin or formin into sha e should take xplace be ore materia setting as occurred. 5

The action of the lime or other precipitant employed is that of true precipitation or coagulation, as the product in its preferred form is unattacked by boiling water although, the sulfite liquor in the acid form preferably used is readily soluble in cold water.

On the weight of the coalemployed from 6' to 10 per cent. of sulfite liquor may be used, the proportion varying between these or other limits according to the character of the coal amount of briqueting pressure and so forth. The coal particles need not be uniformly coated with the sulfite liquor provided sufficient of the latter be present to secure the required bonding effect.

Tests made with such briquets by exposing to a strong spray of water showed a lain sulfite liquor briquet to fall to piecesv in 10 minutes while the limcd roduct resisted perfectly for a period of our hours when the test was discontinued.

Although the reaction takes place readily in the cold with the lime reagent as above, heat may be employed if desired to modify the reaction. \Vhen precipitants other than lime are used the conditions should be ad justed to meet any modification of the reaction under the circumstances Similarly althou h the process is described more particular y with reference to the production of briquets it will now be evident that the reaction mav be applied to other fields where itis desire to precipitate sulfite liquor to yield an insoluble product, especiall as distinguished from salting out proce ures known in the art. Thus flooring, tool handles, blocks, and all kinds of molded products may be obtained. Added to aper stock in the beater engine, the sulfite iquor may be thrown down with lime or similar precipitant, giving a sizin material which serves for some of the arker shades of paper at least, and such size may be used in conjunction with rosin or other size if desired.

For convenient shipment and for certain other reasons including readiness with which the material may be ncorporated with the coal or similar stock, the sulfite liquor may ,be dried to a solid and ground to a. powder i or dried in an atomizing system which ields the material in a pulverulent con ition. This powder is then mixed with the coal, lime being added either before or after or with such mixture, and water incor orated so as to cause the reaction either in e bulk mass or after formin into briquets.

Similarly a pulveru ent product consisting of a mixture of the dry sulfite liquor so ids and hydrated lime may be prepared for use as a inder.

Other precipitants than lime may be employed as stated. Preferably however a aslc body such as lime or barium hydrate is recommended and preferably with the acid sulfite of cellulose-waste liquor, it being desirable to have only a moderate degree' of acidity to permit of the reaction taking place with efiectiveness.

Barium hydrate is not so powerful a precipitant as calcium hydrate, on some liquors. Lime is a specific precipitant.

Another consideration is that in the ease of briquets it becomes necessary to consider the ash of the fuel. Any addition of sulfur compounds such as p rite is of course regarded as pbjectionab e, while lime is even advantageous as it softens the clinker rendering same less likely to freeze'to the stove fire box or grates. With 6% of sulfite liquor and 3% oflime the resulting ash is not objectionahle in the case of most grades of coal, both anthracite and bituminous.

Finally in recapitulation it should be stated that although I la claim broadl to the novel reaction herein efore set fort I principally indicate concentrated acid suliite liquor diluted as may be desired, as a bind ing material, precipitated by means of the specific precipitant quicklime or lime material, as calcium saccharate and the like, such acid sulfite liquor being preferably in a colloidal and unstable form due to such concentration under these conditions so that the act of neutralization or over neutralization (an excess of precipitating agent being preferably employed) induces not merely chemical combination but 'a polymerization or some similar form of coagulation the exact nature of which I do not herein attempt to describe. \Yhile lime exerts this effect calcium chlorid does not yield the same results. Probably the removal of the excess of sulfite li uor and ossibly some in coinbination wit the soli s of the liquor, which occurs during the treatment connected with concentration, places the solids or some of them in an unstable condition and the addition of the limeby further combination under these peculiar conditions causes the effects observed. The bulking agent or material hereinafter mentioned is the material em loyed as the filler or the essential materia to be bound together as aforesaid;

It will be readily understoodthat, by the concentration of waste sulfite li uor, the product is rendered substantially ee from sulfurous acid so that the action of sulfurous acid on the added lime is avoided, and sulfur which is objectionable in briquets, is reduced to a minimum. It will also be readily understood from the foregoing description that, by reason of the chemical reactions which take place during concentration, the constituents of the sul process. are in a chemically unstable condition as compared with their condition in unconcentrated sulfite liquor so that. upon the addition of lime. the negative ions of the precipitant are seized upon with peculiar te liquor which are acted upon bv the lime in my avidity and a difierent product obtained from that resulting from the action of lime upon unconcentrated sulfite liquor.

I do not herein claim the following subject matter, disclosed herein, which matter is claimed in the copending applications noted below The dried acid solid dried sulfite waste liquor, and the general process of makmg such material, claimed in application 77 9,516, filed July 17, 1913.

The use of such material as a tanning agent, claimed in application 162,941 filed A ril 18, 1917.

. riquets and formed articles generally, made with acid solids of sulfite waste liquor dried by atomization, claimed in application 165,441, filed April .30, 1917.

The dried comminuted waste sulfite li uor solids, claimed in application 167 ,332, led

M 8,1917. iii,

, tion 176,2 80

e acid solution made by redissolving the dried solids, 'claimedin application haps by atmospheric oxidation" thereof, and mfy invention in which the insolubilization o t he liquor solids is effected within a rela tively short time, as by the addition of lime or equivalent material at the time 9f formin the product, I use the expression arti- 5 0 ficially insolubilizing said liquor solids.

What I claim is 6 1. The process of. making briquets or other molded articles which comprises-mixing concentrated acid sulfite cellulose waste liquor with a bulking material containing coal dust and fragments and incorporating quicklime materia 2. The process of making briquets or other molded articles which comprises imxing concentrated acid sulfite cellulose waste liquor or its solids with a bulking material and a precipitant for the liquor solids.

,3. The rocess of making briquets or other mol ed articles which comprises mixing concentrated acid unstable sulfite cellu: lose waste liquor with a bulking material 168,275, filed. May 12, 1917 and application mid uicklime material.

186 481 filed August 16, 1917. V

I he use of the somewhat acid solids, dried by atomization in making briquets and other, forgied articles, claimed in applica- O filed June 27, 1917 .7

' In mixing the materials of which briquets and similar objects are formed, particularly if mixed'in a dried state with the addition of water, it may frequently happen that some portion of the liquor solids do not re-'- act with the lime to produce an insoluble product. Since, however, a material part,. at least of such solids would be rendered insoluble, I use in one of the appended claims,

the expression insolubilizing at least a' portion 0 the solids of the binder.

In order to clearly ,difierentiatebetween such very slow and gradual insolubilizing of theliquor solids, which to a certain extentmay occur under service conditions per- 4. he process of making briquets or other shaped articles which comprises incorporating concentrated sulfite cellulose waste liquor or its solids with a bullgin'g ma terial and in artificially insolubilizlng said liquor solids.

5. A from a ulking material and an acid binder containing the solids of concentrated sulfite cellulose waste liquor, which comprises in: corporating said two materials to ether and insolnbilizm at least a portion 0 the solids 80' of the said binder.

, Signed at Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, this 24th day of March, A. D. 1913.

CARLETON ELLIS.

rocess of making a shaped article 

